St. Louis Public Schools Earns A for Lunch

How do you get school kids to pick a black bean taco over cheese pizza and fries?

St. Louis Public Schools might have the answer.

Offer the healthy food, but also educate the students about why the healthy choice is the better choice. Bring in visiting chefs and have gardens outside 22 schools to grow vegetables on school property. Those are some of the St. Louis Public Schools' methods that have impressed a Washington-based nutrition advocacy group, which this month gave the district's lunch program an "A."

The district earned a score of 95 out of 100. That's a marked improvement from its grade of F in 2007 from the same nonprofit group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Physicians Committee's School Lunch Report Card says St. Louis Public Schools deserves a mention for "most improved." Since its last grade in 2007, the district has "made impressive strides in offering its more than 25,000 students healthful lunches."